


For I Have Sinned

by TerraTenshi



Series: Trick or Treat - Halloween 2015 [29]
Category: The Question (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Self-Harm, catholocism, trick - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 08:36:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5121836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraTenshi/pseuds/TerraTenshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Renee/Kate trick for the prompt "two or more characters discuss their own beliefs – or those held by others."</p>
            </blockquote>





	For I Have Sinned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chrissy_sky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrissy_sky/gifts).



Renee had been raised devoutly Catholic. For as long as she could remember she’d gone to church. She’d taken communion. She’d confessed.

At first her confessions had been mostly small things. She was mad at her mother. She cheated on her math test. She lied about not knowing who ate the last cupcake. 

Her penances had been small as well. Three Hail Marys. One Our Father. Reading from the Bible.

As she grew her confessions and penances grew larger. Sneaking one of her father’s beers required her to recite the entire rosary. Stealing twenty dollars from her mother’s purse meant copying an entire Bible chapter by hand.

The older she got the further she drifted from the church but Renee had never been able to shake the need for penance.

After a night of drinking herself into a blackout she would clean the entire apartment with a hangover.

Punching a confessed child molester after he was already in handcuffs led to her hand writing out the relevant section of the law.

An important part of penance was that if the sin was committed repeatedly the penance had to be increased to discourage the continued behavior.

The night Kate first kissed her Renee wrote “homosexuality is a sin” a hundred times.

The second time it was a thousand times. Then ten thousand.

After they got to second base Renee started doing increasing numbers of pushups, situps, and jumping jacks.

Third base meant donating half her paycheck to a Catholic charity.

After the first night they slept together Renee stood with her hands under hot water until they were pink and blistered in places. When that got in the way of her work she found other ways to punish herself.

She pressed a compress firmly against the fresh cuts on her leg but she couldn’t help smile as she listened to the voicemail Kate had left earlier.

“Hey, ‘Nee. Want to come over tonight? There may have been an irresistible sale on ice cream. We can even order real food and watch Die Hard. Let me know!”

Of course she wanted to go over. Because whatever she had to do to make her relationship forgivable in the eyes of God was worth it to be with Kate.


End file.
